The Philadelphia Flyers made their way to the Pepsi Center to take on the Colorado Avalanche.
Following a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to kick start a two-game winning streak as they faced off with the Colorado Avalanche for the first time in the 2019-20 regular-season. Philly found themselves down a couple of men entering the contest, as Travis Konecny, Philippe Myers, and Oskar Lindblom all missed this inter-conference clash due to separate injuries. Colorado was already going to be a tough enough opponent as it is, but the Flyers had to be resilient in the face of adversity if they wanted to walk out of the Mile High City with a W. In other, non-injury related news, Carter Hart got the nod from Alain Vigneault and opposed Pavel Francouz in-net.
The Avalanche struck first early into the opening frame, as Matt Calvert capitalized on a rebound opportunity to put his side up by one. Calle Rosen had his initial point shot deflect off of the post, and the puck eventually found its’ way onto Calvert’s stick for his sixth goal of the season. Outside of that lone blemish, Hart was excellent for the Flyers throughout the period, making a few crucial saves, especially in the latter stages of the stanza, to keep the deficit at one after 20 minutes of action.
Philadelphia put the pressure on Francouz to begin the second, putting six shots on net in the first six minutes of the period. The Czech goaltender was able to stand his ground through that onslaught, though, preventing the Fly Guys from tying everything at one apiece. The Flyers went on to carry a 17-5 shots-on-goal advantage during the middle frame, but ultimately trailed where it mattered most. Mikko Rantanen doubled the Avs lead late, converting on a beautiful pass from Nathan MacKinnon in front of the crease while putting an absolute robbery of a save from Hart behind him in the process.
Rantanen netted his second tally of the night within a couple of minutes of the puck dropping for the third, putting his team up by three with less than 20 to go. Claude Giroux would get the Flyers on the board late, but that was all they could muster up as they fell to the Avs by a score of 3-1. Philadelphia struggled with the depth of Colorado in this one, as they possessed too much talent for the Orange and Black to match up with, especially with TK, Lindblom, and Myers out of the lineup. I also have to give credit to Francouz, who made some stellar saves in the second to keep the Flyers within an arms distance.
The Flyers are now 17-9-5 on the year. Next game is Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.